Local Austin knitters – this hardly ever happens, but there are a few spots open in Knitting University this quarter! (EDITED – THIS CLASS JUST FILLED. Sorry, no empty spots left. Please drop me a note if you’d like your name on the list to be notified if there are spots available in upcoming quarters – staci@verypink.com)

Knitting University is a small class I teach here at my home. We meet for six classes per quarter, every other Thursday. We are starting up again on October 20th. I keep the class really small, so that each knitter gets as much one-on-one class time (and email questions answered) as they need.

Ike is the only one looking at the camera in this photo!

Besides all of the knitting help, it’s a really fun group. And there is always wine available.

Spots are filled first come, first serve. Drop me a note if you’d like more details – staci@verypink.com.

I just heard that a new restaurant here in Austin, called El Arbol, has abruptly shut it’s doors for business.

That’s not really such a big deal, since restaurants come and go. But I know why this one closed. It’s because it was CURSED.

El Arbol (The Tree) is named for the magnificent oak tree that was the center of the restaurant. There were three floors of luxurious indoor seating, and three floors of patio seating around the big tree.

This place was, without a doubt, totally beautiful. Each floor a different design.

So now you understand that the place was awesome. Great wines, great food, great service, beautiful place. My love for patio dining drew me to this place like a moth to the flame. Now back to the curse.

Over this summer, I went on six dates here with six different men, and after each date, I never wanted to speak to the man again. (Mind you, I’ve been on dates this summer at other places, but this place stands out as a disaster.) Let’s review –

Date 1: I honestly can’t remember this date. Oy. But someone introduced me to the place.

Date 2: He invited me here (to my surprise, since I had been here a couple of weeks prior). I told him that I had already eaten and I just wanted a glass of wine, and he ordered two appetizers for himself. We ended up having two glasses of wine each. At the end of the date he asked me to split the bill with him, which is weird anyway, BUT I DIDN’T EAT ANYTHING. This would make more sense if it was a jilt on me, but it wasn’t. He wanted to go out again. He was just a cheapskate, and a bore to boot. I paid half of the check, but declined further dates.

Date 3: We met here, and El Arbol was closed because it was a Monday. We went somewhere else instead, but the curse had already touched us. His raging ex-girlfriend appeared over the next few days, and scared me away from ever seeing him again.

Date 4: Normal and charming guy. We enjoyed a glass of wine and nice conversation. Sometime during the second glass of wine, he started to get really drunk. Then he picked up his pace, and ordered two more glasses. He was a very unpleasant drunk. He went on a long rant expressing his hate for modern culture and literature. He went on a second long rant telling me how corrupt home inspectors are. I ended the date as quickly as I could, and got out of there. Even after my “thanks but no thanks” email, he continued to send me drunken emails at 2am for a couple of weeks.

Date 5: This is a nice place right? And anyone with an internet connection can easily see that this is a nice place. Date 5 showed up in a ratty tshirt, cargo shorts, and dirty flip-flops. I could have forgiven that, but I spent the evening learning about every single thing that his daughters do and do not like to eat. Wow. That was really boring.

Date 6: WHY AM I STILL GOING HERE? While enjoying an antipasti appetizer, and I told my date that he should try the cheese, because it was SO GOOD. He said, “I would rather eat the shit from your dog than eat cheese”. I threw a piece of cheese at his stupid face. (This isn’t the whole reason I stopped seeing him, just the El Arbol part. And English isn’t his first language.)

Date 7: It is entirely possible that there was a seventh, forgettable date.

See? I know why this place closed. It was built on some ancient dating burial ground. But it still makes for good stories. Things can only get better now it’s closed and I have to go somewhere else, right? 🙂

Yes, the air is different. It has a strange, “not-sweaty” feel to it. I believe we have survived another Texas summer.

The dogs feel it, too. This is their favorite morning sunning spot, but it’s too hot in the summer. They collectively decided that today was the Grand Re-Opening of the Futon.

Tippy looks very dramatic here.

And here’s a very lumpy and bumpy shot of my current project –

This is a new design for a men’s sweater that will soon become a pattern + video tutorial. Keep the requests for videos coming! Now that the weather is cooling, we can get back to a regular shooting schedule.

I know I preach this all the time, but I can’t say it enough.

Just think of the great feeling you’ll have when December rolls around, and you have all of your gifts ready. Ahhh. So nice. You can relax and enjoy the holiday instead of getting caught in the mad scramble.

The ideas below are tried and true. I’ve knit and given all of these items as gifts, and they were very well received. They are also pretty quick to knit.

First up – gift ideas from my own pattern library.

Amirah Fingerless Gloves

Mad Men Mittens

Yoga/Pedicure Socks

Christmas Stockings

Earflap Caps

Ida Neck Wrap

And some of my favorite quick-knits from other designers –

French Press Slippers

Pile-able Pups

Capitan Hat

Just Enough Ruffles

Bella’s Mittens

Hudson Hat (this is actually a kid-sized hat)

Fetching Mitts

Good luck!

Back in May, I wrote about how I’d started the Couch to 5K (C25K) running program, then in June I mentioned that I was suffering foot pain and had to stop running.

I want to post an update, since I know that some of you (including both of my sisters) have started the program with me.

I stopped running for the month of July, and swam laps instead. I also bought the ugliest pair of shoes I’ve ever owned so that I could run in the pool. My goal was to keep up the routine and the level of conditioning I had achieved so that I could get running on land again ASAP. I didn’t really enjoy swimming. I am a land mammal.

The Ugliest Shoes Ever.

A few weeks ago I decided to give running a try. My foot still hurt, but it had improved some. I started back on Week 1, Day 1 of the program, which involves more walking than running. I honestly didn’t know if I was going to run for 60 seconds, then have to limp home. But I was fine!

Since then, I’ve been moving very gradually through the C25K program. Before my foot injury, I was excited to quickly hit that 5K goal. This time, I’m repeating each week a few times, which seems to be allowing my foot to keep up with the increased impact.

Here in Austin, we’ve had something like 60 days straight of temps over 100 degrees. I think I’ll enjoy running even more when it cools down to, say, a brisk 95 degrees. Ha.

This happy little African dog loves the heat, and doesn’t understand why humans complain about it.